Entire city block for sale in Edmonton – abandoned buildings included

An entire city block is for sale in Edmonton, as the province looks to sell prime downtown real estate.

The block in the Oliver neighbourhood – and the abandoned buildings that come with it – could soon be sold to the highest bidder.

It’s the site of the Eric Cormack Centre – a former hospital downtown near the River Valley that’s been closed for a decade.

The province’s listing says the abandoned buildings on the property, which are boarded up, were originally built in the 1930s and 1940s.

Not included on the listing: an asking price.

Robyn Paches, the president of the Oliver Community League, says he wants to see the space used to serve the neighbourhood, potentially as some type of gathering space.

“There’s three scenarios I don’t want to see,” said Paches. “One: it stays the way it is. Two: it just be some mansion, which it obviously won’t. Or three, it becomes a few towers where you have to pay to play.”

The province is accepting bids on the property until Nov. 25.

One Oliver neighbourhood resident told CityNews he was happy the land is going up for sale because the unused property attracts some drug use.

“There’s always a few bad ones. They keep causing problems,” he said.

Others in the neighborhood who walk by everyday didn’t even know it was on the market.

“I didn’t know it was closed,” said one resident. “Nobody’s using it, so might as well sell it.”